7 African American Firsts: Black Men and Women who Broke Barriers

Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman

This sharecroppers' daughter had dreams bigger than her home state of Texas could hold. Bessie Coleman became interested in aviation in her early 20s, but as an African American woman, she was denied admission to flight schools. She eventually learned to fly in France. In 1921, she became the first African American female pilot and the first to have an international aviation license.